After watching the adults' behavior during the healthcare reform town hall meetings this summer, the debate team at Foothill Technology High School in Ventura decided it could do better.

"With all the healthcare talk going on, we haven't seen a civilized argument anywhere," said team member Aron Egelko, 14.

With about 25 parents watching, the students held their own healthcare debate Friday evening in the high school's auditorium.

The four debaters were split into teams of two.

The issue was a resolution that Medicare be extended to all. On the team arguing for this option were Geneva Douma, 15, and Luke Ballmer 14.

With all the healthcare talk going on, we haven't seen a civilized argument anywhere. I was thinking of yelling ‘You lie!' halfway through the debate.

Egelko and his teammate, Steve Ellison, 17, were assigned to argue "in the negative."

"I was thinking of yelling ‘You lie!' halfway through the debate," Egelko joked.

Ballmer was the first to take the podium after speech coach Jennifer Kindred introduced the debate team.

"Healthcare is an issue tearing apart the soul of the U.S.," he said. "It doesn't have to."

Ballmer went on to cite statistics he had researched, including that 47 million Americans are uninsured and that a public option would not destroy private insurance but would provide the competition necessary to keep private health insurance costs down.

Egelko was next. He and Ellison had earlier arranged to dress for the part in matching conservative dark suits and flag pins.

"When I put this on, my mom said, ‘You look like a Republican!'" Egelko said of his mom, a Democrat.

When he took the podium, Egelko argued that extending Medicare for all would be too costly. He and his teammate proposed starting from scratch and figuring out another solution to the healthcare problem.